Let’s take a sneak into the scene of Jethro and his son-in-law who couldn’t let go of the wisdom slipping through the mind of Jethro.
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as a judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him.
Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people–men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain–and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.
He chose capable men from all of Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
(see Exodus 18)
4 Principles of Success
There are four effective principles that can be captured from this story.
Timely Delegation
In the later part of the story, Moses applied the principle of delegation as counselled by his father-in-law, Jethro. The delegation was a necessity at that time because Moses often wears himself out, being a judge to the people.
Delegation is a principle that helps enhance your time management skills and maximizes your potential and productivity. Applying this principle to your endeavours will make you ride on the speed lane of success because you will create time to focus and work on the tasks that require your touch. But when you fail to apply this principle when necessary, you operate at a less effective pace because you handle tasks that can be effortlessly carried out by others.
Delegation is a principle that folks, especially perfectionists effortlessly neglect because of their cravings for perfection at every task. Let’s look at how to solve this, in the next principle to be discussed.
Applying The Right Mentorship Strategies
Mentors are those that deploy others; they help them become who they were created to be; they help others develop the right strategies that align to their purpose and vision in life. You saw how Jethro applied the right mentorship strategies.
“…If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied..” the strategy Jethro used to mentor/counsel Moses at that instance reveals that when you get the privilege to mentor/counsel someone, don’t neglect the place of God’s opinion in the counsel you give. Despite Jethro knowing that was the right thing to do, he didn’t fail to acknowledge that God can decide to have Moses do otherwise since he is all-knowing.
As a perfectionist, mentor and train people to be able to execute or dispose of their duties effectively in your absence. It was, for this reason, the men Moses selected could effectively work. When you mentor effectively, you can confidently delegate what doesn’t need to be done by you. Hence, you become a pro at managing your time.
Yielding To Counsel
Moses was a man of insight who had developed a great relationship with God. Yet, he didn’t belittle his father’s-in-law counsel. In fact, that became the masterpiece counsel he needed to lead his people better. When a person yields to the right counsel, he begins to make success attainable. Proverbs spoke well about counsel when it states, ” Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed” (see Proverbs 15:22). Understanding the principle of counsel makes you vulnerable to the effect of learning from others who know your journey better; either wins and failures.
The counsel of Jethro to Moses thought him how to be a better leader. The counsel of David to Solomon thought him how to grow in wisdom and statute. (see Chronicles 13). There are individuals who have rejected counsel and ended up in detours or dead ends.
Some folks believe when they attain a certain position in life, counsel becomes obsolete. Counsel gives you insight and sets you apart in your journey of life and this is the principle that has helped a lot of people attain a level of success.
Humility
The principle that governs humility is; “humility makes available resources that reduce the cost of your journey.” Humility saves you a lot in attaining success. It increases your in-needed knowledge, makes you gain human resources at ease, attracts growth and enhances your productivity and effectiveness. Moses was humble and that gives the reason why he accepted his father’s-in-law counsel. Pride goes before a fall but a man that humbles himself becomes exalted by reaping the fruits of humility.
A lack of humility has the power to make you start losing aides and resources assigned to help you. This also makes corrections almost impossible to save you from pitfalls.
Below are affirmations to help you inculcate these principles into your life.
